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Writing101 – Day Seven Prompt

Ah, the “compare & contrast” assignment with the twist – in the form of a dialogue! We’ll see if I’m up for this challenge:

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“My dear, it’s obvious that you have a rather tell-tale way about you,” he begins, staring down his nose at her, “I know exactly what you think and feel the moment you walk in a room. Why can’t you be just a bit mysterious?”

“Mysterious? You want mysterious? That’s your problem – you don’t live in the moment. You aren’t spontaneous. In fact, you’re old and stodgy and FAT. Yes, I said it, you’re fat!” she barely took a breath as the words tumbled out of her mouth.

“No, my dear, not fat. Fluffy.” he smiled at a joke only he knew the punchline to.

“Fluffy??? What?” she sputtered, flummoxed by this turn of events. If she wasn’t careful, he just might win the argument and that would never do.

“In fact,” he continued, “you are not only not mysterious, or as you say, spontaneous,” and here he paused for effect, “you are like a freight train, barreling through the middle of town . . . at 3 a.m.” he finished, satisfied that in fact, he had bested her once again.

“I have a job to do and that is to watch and warn. You don’t have a job to do. In fact, what do you do all day? I see a whole lot of sleeping going on, but not much of anything else,” she retorted.

“Well, my job was in the past, my dear. I would hunt and kill our next meal, so I certainly have had a job to do. And I have certainly done my job with distinction. Ask anyone.”

“Right. Okay, sure. But what are you now, huh?” she felt frustrated by him. No wonder. He would just sit and like a statue, he’d seemingly be silent for hours at a time. He could lie on the couch, all languid and self-possessed, where her heart would ache in desire. How did he do that, she wondered, not for the first time.

“I am the master of all I survey, young lady. But you are way too young to understand what this means,” and he turned from her.

This was too much.

“Oh no you don’t, old man,” she started, “you may have been the most important member of the family in the past, but I know for a fact that I’m the favorite now. I am always playing and amusing them, where you just lie around, practically dead.”

“Right. You tear up things, steal other things, and generally make a pest of yourself, is what you mean,” he smiled an enigmatic smile. She rankled, but he could control her. His Jedi mind control course was coming in handy. She was just too easy to get riled up.

“Well, you weren’t using them, so if I liberated them, so what?” she countered. “And you know as well as I do that varmints and critters deserve eradication,” she finished, pleased that she knew a few BIG words, too.

“Look, you sashay over to everybody and jump all over them, and it’s so obvious what’s going on,” he was now going in for the kill, “you’re jealous! You’ve always been jealous – of me, of their affection for me, and of my place in their lives. You want to be number one, but you absolutely hate that you have to share the limelight. Well, little missy, you are not the only one they love. You are not the only one they take care of! GET OVER YOURSELF . . . . be-yotch!” He ended with a flourish.

And with that, his tail went high into the air, and he wandered into the bedroom to find another place to sleep, far away from her manic doings.

“Jealous? Jealous? No, that’s not true,” she began but she knew she was defeated. She could go after him, she could cut him off at the pass and demand he retract what he’d said, but why bother?

Just then, SHE came into the room and sat down, and with that, her mind was easily made up. No damn C-A-T to have to nose off HER lap. Nope. SHE was all hers, and her heart, previously aching with desire, was fulfilled.

“Oh Izzy,” SHE said, petting her softly, “I love you, sweetie.”

“Oh, MOM,” she thought. “I love you, too.” And with that, a little sigh escaped her mouth and she relaxed for the first time that day.

6 thoughts on “Writing101 – Day Seven Prompt”

“Well, little missy, you are not the only one they love. You are not the only one they take care of! GET OVER YOURSELF . . . . be-yotch!”

That almost literally made me laugh out loud.

It’s clear that one is a cat. Given the description, I assume that the other character is a dog? Could be a younger cat, I suppose, but I get a fairly clear distinction that it has to be a dog.

LOVE the dialogue, BTW.

Flow is good, as is the pacing. I didn’t notice any typos or grammatical errors. I almost got the feel of this being more like “doing the dozens” and that this won’t be the last time (nor was it the first) that it’s happened.

Very clever, great writing indeed. And a lesson for me about being in a hurry, racing through things. I had to read the comments to “get it” and then of course it was a hoot! Had I approached with “intention”, focus, probably would have seen that! Thanks much!

You have captured the essence of the situation in our home, The tried and true and devoted -V- the new and cute and energetic, not to mention the feline mediator. I enjoyed this , be warned I will be watching lol